“I remember the 1980s with somewhat of a blush. No man’s hair should be bigger than his girlfriend’s. But that was the time. Dublin in Technicolor. In reality it was monochrome and in the grip of a recession, But on video tape, you could be transported,” Bono said. “You could wear what you liked, and the more outrageous the better. Anything to wind up the jackbooted skinheads on Dublin’s north side. Make-up on a boy drove rockers wild, and the teachers wilder. Thank God for Bowie, who made all the black eyes okay. And allowed people to find out who they were.”

Directed by John Carney (Once), Sing Street focuses on an Irish teenager who forms a band with his friends and receives a crash course in musical history for his ne’er-do-well older brother (played in the film by Jack Reynor). Since its debuting earlier this month, The Weinstein Company release has grossed more than $1 million at the box office.

“My brother gave me the gift of music through my first guitar,” Bono added in his statement. “We formed a band. In truth, at the same stage, U2 were not as good as the kids in Sing Street. In truth most films you’ll see this year won’t touch Sing Street…”

This isn’t the first time Bono and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, have connected on a film project: Bono received both his Oscar nominations — best original song nods for Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom and The Gangs of New York — for films executive produced by Weinstein.